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ROSEMONT, Ill. -- Purdue swimmers Marat Amaltdinov, Kaersten Meitz, Adam Noens and Emmy Rawson have been selected to represent the Big Ten team as it takes on the USA Swimming National Team at the USA College Challenge the weekend of Nov. 12 to 13 in Indianapolis.
The new two-day meet will be held at the IU Natatorium on the campus of IUPUI. The Big Ten Network will be televising the Sunday afternoon session live, with Saturday's races also airing on BTN beginning at 10 a.m. ET on Sunday. Both sessions will be live on BTN2Go.com and the BTN2Go app.
The men's and women's NCAA Championships will also be held in Downtown Indianapolis in March.
Amaltdinov (200 breast, 1:52.67), Meitz (500 free, 4:39.75) and Rawson (200 fly, 1:56.52) are Purdue record holders. Noens (Lawrence Central HS) is an Indianapolis native and Rawson (Muncie Central HS) is also an in-state product.
Amaltdinov won the 200 breaststroke at the Big Ten Championships last season and would have been seeded third in the event at the NCAA Championships, but he opted for forgo his berth to train for the Russian Olympic Trials.
Meitz was an Honorable Mention All-American in the 500 freestyle last year. The junior is already a two-time NCAA Championships qualifier as an individual.
Rawson qualified for the NCAA Championships as a sophomore a year ago via her program record in the 200 butterfly late. She also excels in the 100 fly and 200 individual medley.
Noens won the B final of the 400 IM (3:47.63) at the Big Ten Championships a year ago, moving into sixth place in program history. He is among the Boilermakers' most versatile swimmers and owns Purdue's top times in the 200 backstroke and 200 IM early this season.
The Big Ten's top three returning swimmers in each event at the 2016 Big Ten or NCAA Championships were automatically selected for the conference team. Each men's and women's team from around the league is represented by at least two swimmers regardless of their times. Current student-athletes on the U.S. National Team will swim for the Big Ten squad, but alumni will represent Team USA.
Among the 2016 Olympians expected to swim in Indianapolis are medalists Lilly King, Cody Miller, Blake Pieroni, Cierra Runge, Tom Shields, Leah Smith, Amanda Weir and Kelsi Worrell. Other Olympians slated to race include Jacob Pebley and Jordan Wilimovsky. Miller, Pebley, Shields, Smith, Weir and Worrell will swim for Team USA, while current student-athletes King, Pieroni, Runge and Wilimovsky are on the Big Ten roster.
Amaltdinov posted NCAA provisional-qualifying times (B cuts) while sweeping the breaststroke events in the dual meet at Notre Dame this past weekend. His winning time of 1:58.28 in the 200 breast was a new pool record at UND's Rolfs Aquatic Center. He also established a new pool-record time in the same event at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center last season.
Meitz owns the Boilermakers' top times in the 100, 200, 500 and 1,000 free early this year. She has won five of the seven individual events in which she has competed, finishing as the runner-up in the other two.
Events at the USA College Challenge begin Saturday, Nov. 12 at 6 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 13 at 11:30 a.m. But first Amaltdinov, Meitz, Noens and Rawson will lead the Boilermakers into action Friday for a triple dual vs. Iowa and Missouri State in Iowa City. The meet begins at 3 p.m. ET.